Monday, April 20, 2009

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2009

by Thomas E. Kenny.
You have followed the advice of career experts and have "dug the well before you're thirsty." Preparing for your next job search by continually building and strengthening the relationships of your professional network. However, now that you are in a job search, you may be wondering how to leverage that network!
Asking your network for job leads is not a best practice of professional networking. Instead you need to find and determine jobs that you are a match for and then find advocates to assist you.
There are two categories of advocates that will help you land your next position. Group A advocates are the stake holders in the candidacy and hiring process. Thus Group A will consist of recruiters, HR professionals and hiring mangers. While Group B advocates are your cheerleaders and advisers. This is important because your questions, interactions and relationship will differ between those two groups of advocates.
Once you have identified a position that you are interested in and are sure that you are a great match for, you need to identify your Group A advocates before you submit your value proposition (targeted cover letter and resume).
The number one best source for finding Group A advocates is LinkedIn. When performing a search for these advocates the following are useful keywords: Sourcing, Talent, HR, Human Resources, Recruiter.
However, if you don't find advocates on LinkedIn there are many other sources to search such as the company's web site, Manta, and other social networking sites. Also don't forget your offline network which may consist of family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances who may have connections at the target company.
It's also important to find Group B advocates at the target company since these people can help you understand the best way to position your skills, talents and experience. Each corporation has a different culture and processes, thus business intelligence on the most effective way to navigate the system of gate keepers is valuable information. I've known qualified candidates that were great matches for positions, but they missed out on opportunities, because they didn't present their skills in the proper manner for the target company. You need to speak their language and after all isn't that what a targeted resume is about!?
Once you've identified both Group A and B advocates for a position you'll be armed with the information and support system to most effectively get through the hiring process.
In conclusion, no matter what the out come of the process, remember that your advocates have exerted time and effort in assisting you, so be sure to thank them appropriately!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

n. A big-spending traveler; a person who travels to shop. [Blend of transient andconsumer.]

Example Citations:

Feeling somewhat abandoned by tight-fisted Australian consumers, Myer's dynamic duo Bill Wavish and Bernie Brooks have gone in search of a far more appealing demographic — the transumers.

For the uninitiated, a transumer is a consumer in transit; somebody who spends up big while waiting around an airport for a connecting flight, or while enjoying a night in a foreign city during a travel stopover.
—Rebecca Urban, Two out of three ain't bad but leaves Biota short, The Australian, July 22, 2008

The essential question for Transumers — as they've been dubbed by trend watchers — is why be anywhere when you can be somewhere else?

The wide acceptance of BA's name will prompt it and other airlines to move on from franchising routes to franchising others parts of their business, such as ground handling services. Harrison predicts that BA will develop a 'transumer' brand, stretching the brand to other forms of transport, such as rail services, or even to other sectors of industry.
—"Keeping up appearances," Airline Business, October 1, 1996

Notes:

Another sense of the term "transumer" is being shopped around by social network types, and it seems to refer to a person who uses a social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook to graze information and join groups of like-minded people. Here's a press release that outlines the "six key personalities or types" that apparently make social networks so much fun:

Recent data release by The UK report — MySpace08 identifies the six key personalities or types of social networker; ranging from the business minded, the uber creative to the more traditional user.

—Netrepreneurs — Spearheading the Culturpreneurism movement, they use social networking sites for the sole purpose of generating income.

—Connectors — Revel in passing on links, if they see something you'll like they'll pass it on to you.

—Transumers — Vital part of social networks — the grazers of content and networks rather than creators. They are the people who follow the lead of others and join groups connected to things they like doing, bulking up numbers, buying products and attending events.

—Collaborators — Believe in 'people power' and use social networking sites to create events, ideas and activities by collaborating with other people.

—Scene Breakers — Early adopters who use social networking sites to discover and be part of new and emerging scenes, movements and individuals.

Tomorrow you're delivering a sales presentation to your company's biggest client. Your boss and the client company's CEO will be there. A lot's riding on a deal going through; what you say and how you say it will really count.

But you're not anxious. On the contrary, you're charged up. You feel sharp and focused. You've got a solid command of your material and know the client's needs well. Looking one last time through your slide deck, you recall a story the company's CEO once told you about his business that you can work into the introduction to make it that much stronger.

If you recognize something of yourself and your experience in this scenario, you know that a certain amount of stress, in the right circumstances, can enhance performance. Whether we're competing in a sporting event, presenting a closing argument to a jury, or negotiating the terms of a business deal, the adrenaline surge triggered by stress increases our focus and heightens our efficiency, enabling us to perform at the top of our game.

Yet we also know that stress, far from enhancing performance, sometimes undermines it. When our stress level is too high or the stress has lasted too long, we can't concentrate. Creativity fizzles out and frustration sets in. We become distracted, forgetful, irritable.

So where's the boundary between good stress and bad stress? And how do we know when we're close to crossing that line so we can make sure we don't?

To find out, we spoke to Herbert Benson, M.D., director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine (Boston), and Peg Baim, the institute's clinical director of training.

The physiology of stress
The first step in monitoring and managing stress is understanding our physiological responses to stressors, says Benson, who is also an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Stress activates the body's fight-or-flight response: heart rate and blood pressure go up, and several hormones are released into the blood stream, the most important of which are epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) and cortisol.

In the short term, these hormones boost our focus, memory, and creativity. A century ago, Harvard researchers Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson calibrated the relationship between stress arousal and performance, finding that as stress goes up, so do efficiency and performance. However, once stress exceeds a certain level, they noted, its benefits disappear and performance declines. Mental flexibility, concentration, and mood all take a hit.

This relationship between performance and stress has been dubbed the Yerkes-Dodson law. This graphic represents it:

The Yerkes-Dodson Curve

Identify your personal stress-response pattern
Everyone reacts to stress differently; X amount of stress might be energizing for you but debilitating for your neighbor. How people respond when their stress levels are getting too high is also individual, although a person's response tends to be consistent over time. The symptoms of excess stress may be physical, cognitive, or affective (relating to mood) — or some combination thereof.

To recognize how you respond when you're edging closer to the downward slope of the Yerkes-Dodson curve:

Pay attention to your attention. After a solid stretch of productive work, do you suddenly find yourself compelled to check out the latest sports scores online or pay a visit to the vending machines? Are you having difficulty maintaining the focus and energy you applied to your work a half-hour ago?

Take note of your mood. Are you less optimistic about the outcome of your project than you were an hour into it? Has your excitement about tackling a knotty challenge shifted to frustration?

Assess your stamina. Do you feel like you're running out of steam? That you've hit a brick wall?

Listen to your body. Do you suddenly have heartburn? A headache? What about back pain, dizziness, or a racing pulse?

Other symptoms are more subtle. Some people fall into negative thought patterns: Minor issues seem like major setbacks. Their view of people and situations loses nuance and becomes black-or-white, all-or-nothing. Other people become perfectionist task masters who hold the bar unrealistically high and overreact to mistakes, both theirs and others.

Another way to identify your individual stress response is to reflect on how you feel and act when you are deeply relaxed. "What are you like when you have less stress in your life or when you are on vacation?" asks Baim. "Do you still get headaches?"

Managing stress and counteracting its effects
When you've learned to recognize when your stress level is getting too high, you can take steps to control it before it takes control of you. If you've been working furiously on a project or problem and one or more of your usual stress-response symptoms occurs, step away from your work. Engage in an activity that calmly engages you, such as yoga, knitting, or going for a walk. Visiting an art museum counts; visiting a Web site does not. Similarly, watching TV is out. But looking intently and meditatively at a painting in your home or office may be an effective way for you to dial down the stress.

Benson and Baim especially recommend meditation to activate what they call the relaxation response. All you need are a quiet place and 10 to 20 minutes during which you repeat a word, sound, phrase, or gesture. When everyday thoughts intrude, as they inevitably will, calmly disregard them and refocus on the repetitive activity.

The relaxation response is elicited by breaking the train of everyday thought. It counteracts the fight-or-flight response, decreasing metabolism, slowing heart rate and breathing, and lowering blood pressure. In fact, Benson's most recent research shows that eliciting the relaxation response can bring about physiological changes that offset the harmful effects of stress. (To learn more about the relaxation response, go to the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine Web site at www.mbmi.org.)

Given the costs to employers when their employees are overdosing on stress, Benson suggests that "managers should find or create a space where people can go to alleviate stress and evoke their own relaxation response."

Baim agrees. "If stress is a mainstream condition," she says, "then we should make the buffers mainstream as well."

Making some lifestyle changes can also help you keep stress in check:

Get enough sleep. Dozing in front of the TV doesn't count — you need deep, regenerative sleep. "If you are dreaming, that's a good sign," she says.

Exercise. A walk around the block at lunchtime will do more for your productivity than downing a hasty lunch hunched in front of your computer.

Eat a balanced diet containing plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Avoid negative expectations. Baim recommends starting your day by mentally playing it out in ways that are in your best interest. "If you are seeing yourself doing a good job, you are more inclined to move in that direction," she says. And giving your mind a break from counterproductive thinking helps neutralize the mental and physical toll exacted by stress.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:10 pm (PDT)

Team,
I have been engaged by the US Army to present a series of networking
presentations to our military professionals and their families at Fort
Monmouth. I am looking for a few ETP Platinum Members to volunteer their
time in assisting me present to our military ETPs unique way of networking
and job search. Below are the dates/times for the presentations: (You do not
have to available for all presentations)
March 18th 1pm to 3pm
March 25th 1pm to 3pm
April 8th 1pm to 3pm
April 15th 1pm to 3pm
April 22nd 1pm to 3pm
May 6th 1pm to 3pm
5/13th 1pm to 3pm

CHECK THIS SITE FOR 30 secs. www.me2everyone.com/259638

Comments (1)

Basically, it is a new site in pre-launch state that will become a virtual world – network, shop, do business, play videos, etc. There are free shares (that should become actual company shares) to anyone who signs up, and more shares if you refer people or submit used suggestions. Its' free - nothing to lose. link – Check this link: www.me2everyone.com/259638

Have a personal or professional interest in change? We have a growing collection of resources. Innovation Watch follows trends and speculates about where they may be taking us. News feeds, multimedia, links, books and articles explore what the future mi...…

TaylorMade's R9 driver is the result of CEO Mark King broadening his relentless innovation strategy to include middle managers. The article is a great example of innovation at the core of an organization.…